The Home Department on Friday informed the Karnataka High Court that 47 convicted prisoners, who were released on parole from various jails in the State, had gone absconding without returning to prison even after the expiry of their parole period.

Of these 47, 30 were released on parole from the Bangalore Central Prison. This information was provided to the court as it had recently sought details in this regard when it noticed that a murder convict, Thejus, had not returned to the prison from the past two years.

Meanwhile, the police on Friday produced Thejus before the court following his arrest. Also, the authorities informed the court that some of these absconding convicts were apprehended recently and efforts were on to trace others. Criminal cases had been lodged against each of them for violating the parole conditions, they said.

A Division Bench comprising Justice K. Bhakthavatsala and Justice K.N. Keshavanarayana had noticed that Thejus had gone missing when it came across an appeal filed against the order of conviction passed by a trial court as there was no advocate to represent him though his co-accused were represented.

Meanwhile, the Bench directed prison authorities to allow Asgar, an accused in the murder of Diwan Ali, a councillor of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, to attend his daughter’s wedding to be held on Sunday.

The Bench said Asgar should be brought to Bangalore from Bellary jail with police escort and should be taken back to the jail the same day with travel and other expenses at his cost.

Asgar was sentenced to life imprisonment by a city court in 2010 in connection with the murder of one Afzal Pasha and his appeal against the conviction is pending before the High Court. It was alleged in the charge sheet filed in the Diwan Ali murder case that Asgar masterminded the murder while serving the sentence.